There's two things about Feast I'd like to get out there. One is some general information, the other is a big problem. I'll cover the problem after the in-article break, if you already know the stuff in the first part.

We've been having a bit of trouble at Feast here, lately, in that the notion of our invitational tournament has becomes a bit TOO well-known. That makes sense, after all, it's absolutely been the flagship event for us over the past three years. But we have a lot more going on. The current goal of the Feast staff is to transform Feast of Blades into a full celebration of gaming; to run events in an many systems as possible as well as possible.

That means that we have a ton of kickass Warmachine/Hordes events being run. We're running the largest Infinity tournament, ever, and their lead rules dev and fluff mastermind is attending. We're running Warhammer Fantasy, and Flames of War. We've got a Magic tournament. We’ve got A LOT. There's a lot going on, and just walking the halls is a pretty good time. Actually, we don't even charge for a floor pass, so if you just want to come down and hang out, support your buddies or just check it out, you're welcome to for the low, low price of free.

In addition, we have MULTIPLE tournaments for many of our systems, including 40k. We have an open tournament that requires no qualification, you just sign up and play. We have a MASSIVE narrative event this year which will blow you away. (I'll reveal more on that in a future article.) We have a 40k team tournament and single-elimination Friday tournament with a prize titan on the line.

My points is, come out and play.

A lot of people don't seem to know this, but Feast of Blades is not a corporation. We don't have an office building, and besides some low-level store credit as a thank you from the head TO, we don't see any compensation. Everything we do we do because we love gaming, and we really love to put on an event that people have a good time at.

That means that we listen to all the feedback we get, and we try to create an event that will be fun for everyone to play in. Every single complaint, compliment, and general piece of feedback you send someone bounces into my email, and I read it. It also means that we really try to go above and beyond to create an experience that will completely blow you away.

We're all wargamers, and deeply invested in the games we play. The idea behind every event we create is “Can I make my dream event?”. The narrative is the kind of narrative event I want to play in, with a massive detailed table and focus on storytelling. The 40k invitational is the tournament I got to build from the ground up to be exactly the kind of fun, supercompetitive GT that I've always wanted to play in. (Not that I'm the only one!) The 40k open is the fun, laid back classic kind of GT that a ton of players really enjoy.

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The problem we, and a lot of other events have, is that of attendance.

I'm not saying that our attendance hasn't been good, after all, we've tripled in size each year for the past 3 years. That's pretty nice. What I mean is that we can't tell what people want if they don't show up.

This year is fairly unique in that we have a TON of really big tournaments going on, in addition to a ton of side events for a lot of systems. We're letting our TOs expand and play with whatever events they want, because we have the space and we love the content. However, that may not always be the case.

If you want to see more events for the systems you like, you must show up. I'm not kidding. We don't look online for how big our event will be, and who it will attract, because there's no way to tell. And we can't jump into running something truly massive for another system, because we don't have the money or space to gamble that if we run something huge, it will fill out.

This is a big year for determining who gets space and the kind of tournaments we're going to run in the future. I would LOVE to see Warmachine/Hordes get a qualifier tournament like we have for 40k, or a massive narrative battle on an amazing giant board, but things like that aren't going to happen unless we see a lot of players for that system coming out. I would LOVE to see our Infinity tournament take off and become a big fun yearly tournament for that community, but it'll never happen if people don't attend.

While it may seem like large events pop up out of nowhere, they really appear because people are attending them, in force, every year. The 40k Invitational started out as a Colorado-only event, a sort of interstore competition which culminated at whatever story happened to win last year. But there was interest in it, and suddenly other states wanted in, and suddenly we were renting a hotel to accommodate the larger number of players. The entire reason the invitational tournament and Feast of Blades as a convention exists is because of player-driven interest!

What this ultimatly means is pretty exciting for an attendee, because we have a track record that shows how we like to grow and run events. We want people to come, we want people to tell us what they'd like to see, and we would like to grow with them and create a ton of awesome events. But it doesn't happen unless you show up. It just won't, because we won't think we can sell the tickets and we won't dedicate the time and energy to run the events.

So if you have a game you like, show up to it at Feast of Blades this year. I will absolutely promise you that if your game sells out, it'll be awesome this year, and unbelievable the next, and the next after that. All you have to do is show up, and you'll be supporting it much more than you would imagine.

You can find more info on everything here, and I'll answer questions directly in the comments. In case I don't answer, or you ahve something more private to ask me, you can always reach my via my Feast email: maxx_m@feastofblades.com

730530 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.3plusplus.net%2F2013%2F06%2Ffeast-of-blades-is-not-just-a-40k-tournament-and-you-dont-have-to-be-invited%2FFeast+of+Blades+is+NOT+just+a+40k+tournament.+And+you+DON%27T+have+to+be+invited.2013-06-28+13%3A00%3A33Sir+Biscuithttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.3plusplus.net%2F%3Fp%3D7305 to “Feast of Blades is NOT just a 40k tournament. And you DON’T have to be invited.”

Due to some of the hype regarding your event, there came along with it some great negative press, about how you were the only ones playing true 40k with the dual force org chart and the like.

I could however rightly/wrongly compare this to Nova in its infancy, but whereas MVB takes great pains to involve and actively sell his event beyond the scope of its hardcore origins, it seems as though you are stepping back. As if to say, "Well if you want to have fun you have to come and do it yourselves." Not an attitude conducive to growth and popularity.

However, where you may now be growing beyond your initial limited offerings, the main impetus of your creation, the hardcore 40k has dissolved in that, to my knowledge, you no longer are playing "real 40k" and are set to 1850 points. As ironic as this may be, your backtracking makes you just another face in the growing crowd of smallish gt events. What singularly set you apart and made you unique is now forgotten as you are just the local gt for the colorado area.

"Real 40k" is a myth. It came about from the whingeing online that people didn't like some of the unbalanced rules being discarded for tournament play. As I recall FOB original claim to fame was the only gt using dual FOC thus it being the closest to "real 40k". Also note there's a reason I put "real 40k" in quotes.

I disagree that he's saying you have to do it yourself. What he's saying is they have some really great people but they have to prioritise because of their limited resources, in money, space and staff. This obviously means that events which are fully booked will get priority next year over ones which aren't.

Or to put it another way he's saying if you want your fun next year you'll have to turn up this year.

"real 40K" is not a myth. Real 40K is playing by the rules laid out in the published books with no house or organization (other than GW's) rules. Any single modification to the rules as spelled out and you're no longer playing "real 40K" – you're playing "Clever Handle's 40K" or "Abuse Puppy's 40K". In and of itself there is nothing wrong with this – everyone should really feel free to pick & choose how they want to play their games as it is a hobby & certainly not a career. Tournaments just need to be clear on how they're modifying the rules – read AP's post about terrain & fortification interaction in the TSHFT post (IMO the rules are silly, but they probably wouldn't prevent me from playing 6 games of 40K over a weekend – that many games & the opportunity to socialize with fellow hobbyists is almost always a good time!)

In theory, correct. In practice, utter rubbish.
If 40k rules were well written and avoided ambiguities, contradictions and omissions, then you could play 'real 40k' strictly according to the rulebooks.
As it is, you can't. How do you handle a Skyshield platform – there are issues not covered in the rules, so you have to 'houserule' them. Do you allow Forgeworld 40k approved models and rules? It's not in the main GW rulebook, but according to the FW (fully owned subsidiary of GW) rulebooks you can. The list of issues you can't strictly follow the rules is pretty long, because they didn't write them very comprehensively. Unless you want to just say 'dice off for it' of course…..
So yes, pick how you want to rule on things and make sure that's understood by the people coming to attend, and go with it.

>>The list of issues you can't strictly follow the rules is pretty long, because they didn't write them very comprehensively. Unless you want to just say 'dice off for it' of course…

That's precisely what the official rule is. So "real 40k" would be playing by all the rules that can be agreed upon, and dicing off the ones that can't.

It turns out, among friends, that's really easy to do. But among basement dwelling neck beards who desperately try to find loopholes so they can "win" with their plastic toy soldiers….it's a bit more complicated.

This is not to say there aren't some legitimate ambiguities, just that the vast majority of "disputes" arise from people completely leaving their common sense, intellectual honesty, and desire for fair play at the door.

You need to ask your opponent's permission before using Forge World models. This permission, or lack thereof, is achieved by choosing to participate in a tournament that either does or does not allow Forge World models. If you're in a tournament that doesn't allow them, every opponent has effectively refused permission to play with Forge World stuff; if you're in a tournament that does allow them, every opponent has effectively given permission to play with Forge World stuff. There's no conflict there.

"As with all our models these should be considered 'official', but as they may be unknown to your opponent, it's best to make sure they are happy to play a game using Forge World models before you start." – Imperial Armour Vol. 12: The Fall of Orpheus, p. 6

So, you have to make sure your opponents are happy to play with FW. Which is another way of saying, your opponent can say they don't want to play with FW. Which means, you need your opponent's permission to play with FW.

I don't want to go into a full response here, but having the most competitive event possible is extremely important to me. While we are gong down to 1850, it has less to do with double force org and everything to do with time constraints. Time constraints are also the reason why we will not have player-placed terrain.

However, this year we're doing something that I believe is so far unheard of in the tournament circuit: we are using missions straight out of the book, and EVERY book rule aside from player-placed terrain. My goal is to run the most "pure" 40k event possible.

What is difficult as far as marketing is concerned is that we don't want people to think we are JUST the 40k invitational. It's hard because whenever we talk about our other events, it seems like the invitational is being pushed to the side, and is less important. That's simply not true. The invitational has more people working on it than ever this year, and we have a few new things (can you say sideboards?) that I'm really looking forward to.

But year after year I hear people say, "Woah, you have events you don't have to qualify for? I didn't know I could come!" and that's the misconception we're trying to get around. I'm not trying to tell people that "If you want to have fun you have to come and do it yourselves", I'm trying to tell them that we have a ton of big events planned, and I want them to show up so them can be even bigger and better in the future!

Sorry, it's hard to talk about this without sounding like a marketing shill, but I'm writing from the heart. I LOVE wargaming, and I want to create a convention where we have a TON of fun stuff going on, and that just isn't going to happen unless we can inform people about all the cool stuff we're doing.

Oh. That's helpful, though the word you used made me think of sideboards like in Magic tournaments. Like say, you get 300 pts of additional models in your sideboard you can swap into your army before a battle, after looking at your opponent's list/sideboard. Which sounds really awesome, though perhaps open to abuse.

Very open to abuse. I remember one of the tournaments (Adepticon?) had proposed something like this back during 5E and I'd come up with some switcheroo lists that could essentially rewrite their core strategy using a 500pt sideboard. Sideboards work for multi-round matches, not so much for single-round ones.

I would say this is an interesting observation except for the fact it is totally ignorant of facts. FoB never ran double-FoC in the Invitational, it was only run in the Open. So, no change there. There was no player terrain placement, no Mysterious Terrain or Objectives, and the missions were custom designed. That was last year and as far as I know every Major Tournament did similar things..yet they all had great attendance including FoB. I see no evidence of backtracking based on the actual facts.
As far as 'real 40k' goes that whole concept I find laughable, especially if you tie it to points. Do people even read the whole Rulebook before they make these idiotic statements? There are many, many examples throughout the rulebook that actively encourage players to play the game the way they want to play it..period. If a tournament wants to set certain parameters then it is playing the game the way they want to play it..it isn't wrong by any means. You can show up or not, that is your decision… but to think that you have somehow earned the right to decide what is 'real' and what isn't, is not only arrogant but incredibly small-minded.
You should probably actually do some research and fact-finding before you post anymore inane comments…check the list of States that have qualifiers for example before stating it is a Colorado Local GT. You might actually learn something and be able to post a reasonably intelligent post next time.

Whoa there slow down kid, no need to be childish here! *as I say with a laugh.

It is my understanding that FOB was designed with the intent to run at 2k with double force org chart and after an online backlash they backtracked and decided against it. Whatever the end result of their choices they were initially hyped as THE dual force org event, to whatever positive or negative connotations that implies.

I think you need to reread what my observations on what "real 40k" is. There is no such thing, and noone can ever qualify what it would be. The term was derived from forum whingeing from uptight people who can't think for themselves beyond the limited ruleset GW gives us. If you think I believe in such a thing then I will question your comprehension of the written word.

A couple things..FoB existed before 6th Edition so it was never tied to 2k and double-FoC. There was a lot of talk on what the tournament set-up was going to be when 6th Edition popped, and a lot of internet concern at the time that Double-FoC was broken. So that idea was ditched. This is for the Invitational only of course..the Open is another animal altogether.

My statements about 'Real 40K were actually not pointed at you..I did read what you wrote but didn't make that clear in my statement. It is just my observations in general about this whole stupid argument about how people or tournaments should play the game.

We ran the OPEN as a 2K double FOC event last year. We initially were planning to run the OPEN this year as an 1850 event (With ForgeWorld!) to make sure players were able to finish games in the allotted time. But we decided to remain at the 2K double FOC level because we didn't want to limit the players from bringing whatever they wanted, and we plan to have longer rounds than last year to enable the players to finish their games on time.

The INVITATIONAL has never been advertised as a double FOC event, we kept it limited to the single FOC in order to keep things streamlined. For the same reason we have not allowed Forgeworld into the INVITATIONAL. The INVITATIONAL is all about being the most competitive event around, and it does a damn good job at it!

As far as "Real40K", that is an entirely subjective term meaning something different to everyone. This isn't FoB trying to force our view of "Real40K" on anyone… Every decision to change from the core rules has had WEEKS of discussion behind it, and always comes down to the question, "does this help the con experience?" We believe these changes do.

Feast of Blades is trying to make itself the BEST 40K event, as well as the best for any other game system you can come up with. FoB isn't limited to Just 40K, or even just to tabletop miniatures, we have events for every type of gamer you can think of!

Meh, with multiple events and the internet shit can get confusing. Since I don't think I persecuted you guys I'm not going to worry about getting that wrong.

I already said "real40k" is a myth, so I don't know why you brought it up.

While this is what you say here and now in the comment section, the way I read the OP is that if you want to have a fun experience you have to show up and do some of the legwork. Now I'm not saying running a GT is easy, but you have to do a better job at PR than what I saw above. I'm not going to say that's the extent of your message, but it's what I see and it didn't impress me from any viewpoint.

I find it quite interesting that you take umbrage with a statement that has already been responded to and noone else took notice of enough to say anything about.

It was a quick way to defuse some of the more aggressive words he levelled at me without being a total douche. I stand by the fact that I have held noone's feet to the fire and have been pretty neutral in this discussion.

Responding in your fashion with no helpful comments, but only uptight self righteousness helps how exactly? When others deem my comments worthwhile enough to discuss intelligently, how are you helping by labelling them BS? Why focus on one sentence instead of the meat of my statement?

FOB is a CO local gt, this whole article was basically hitting us over the head with how much it's the same as every other gt that has come along in the last few years. So they've got some qualifier stuff, woopdedoo, NOVA's done that to some success and before them Ard Boyz. Not to take anything away from FOB, but when you're fighting the other GT's for fan boy travel money you need to be special and extraordinary. My two cents are that this article did not sell me on the idea of going to FOB over say Adepticon or another somewhat closer event.

If it didn't sell you then it didn't sell you. I personally think that all of the GTs are basically the same thing..Adepticon being the only exception for a lot of reasons. FoB Invitational has one unique thing going for it and that is the qualifiers..they are National and very few Colorado players qualify for it. A look at the Qualifier Tournaments map will show that quite clearly.
I will also say that I have been actively involved with every FoB since it went National and it is extremely well run and a lot of fun. I think if you attended you would agree..plus there are awesome brewery tours and the Great American Beer Festival going on that week in Denver, which none of the other Tourneys can lay claim to..lol.